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Scroll down page or click below for news - latest first
Tuesday
Universal and Wippit partner for movie DTO
Big Brother furore prompts streaming regulation
Microsoft plans own hand-held player
Digital Orchid plucks Italian football mobile rights
Bouygues and Microsoft in next-gen collaboration
Hong Kong given Yellow Card
Glowria launches Video on Demand service
Amino nets HD IPTV contract
Flextech makes tapeless switch
Universal and Wippit partner for movie DTO
Universal Pictures UK and entertainment download pioneer Wippit have agreed a download-to-own (DTO) partnership that will allow film fans further opportunity to access major movie content online in the UK. Universal is the first studio to partner with a music download company to offer download-to-own movie content.
The agreement will enable UK consumers to purchase a range of movies and entertainment on Wippit’s PC-based film download service, located at www.wippit.com. A wide choice of Universal content, including new releases such as Jarhead, King Kong, Pride and Prejudice, Inside Man and American Dreamz, as well as a range of Catalogue and Special Interest titles, will be available to download on the same date as the DVD release. Downloads will be priced from £4.99 (E7.19) up to £19.99 per title, although a special introductory deal will offer consumers three titles for the price of £20 for a limited period.
Consumers can download content for permanent ownership via Universal’s three-copy DTO model, consisting of two digital files, downloadable to PC/laptop and a portable device, in conjunction with a DVD mailed by post.
Peter Smith, President of Universal Pictures International, said that UK consumers would have even more choice and accessibility in downloading Universal’s content to own” Paul Myers, Wippit Founder and CEO, added that the movies were “permanent, not rentals. These movies are yours forever”.
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Big Brother furore prompts streaming regulation
From Rose Major in MelbourneAustralia’s government is threatening to regulate all content streamed live over internet or to mobile phones, following an incident from the Big Brother programme which was not shown on television.
The incident - which bordered on sexual assault – was shown on the Internet and mobile feeds of the Australian version of Endemol’s Big Brother, the rights for which are held by Channel Ten.
The government is proposing to put the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in charge of what is screened on emerging technologies as well as what is broadcast on television. It has characterised the lack of regulation of these technologies as a loophole, as streamed video is not technically broadcasting. At the moment, just online content which is stored and then made available for viewing is regulated by ACMA.
But whether such regulation will be possible in practice has been questioned by many in the industry. Any video streamed from outside of Australia would not come under the law, so those wanting to avoid regulation could move overseas. Plus, compared with
traditional television - and even digital television with its hundreds of channels - the thousands of streamed video sites available on the internet would be impossible to police.In 2004, the government itself decided live streaming was too difficult to regulate, as part of a review of the Online Content Co-regulatory Scheme. If passed, then, it is likely the legislation would in reality affect higher-profile internet and mobile broadcasters
rather than smaller ones which are less visible and so more likely to slip under ACMA’s radar.Even the government is realistic about trying to ban more risqué material from the feeds - adult-rated material could still be streamed on the Internet, but users would have to pay.
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Microsoft plans own hand-held player
Reports from North America suggest that Microsoft has been developing its own hand-held music and video player to challenge Apple Computer's iPod and expects to have it in stores in time for the holiday season. The device would be equipped with wireless Internet capability that would allow users to download music without being connected to a PC, something the iPod lacks. It would also have a more advanced video screen.
Company sources also suggest that Microsoft has held negotiations with major record companies and some major television networks do discuss terms that would allow it to sell music and video content online through a service similar to Apple's iTunes Music Store.
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Digital Orchid plucks Italian football mobile rights
Mobile content distribution specialist Digital Orchid has been granted the rights to deliver football content from the Premiere Serie A Games of la Lega De Italia across its wireless distribution networks in the Americas. Granted through La Lega's media technology partner, Blutech SA of Madrid, Digital Orchid's rights also include highlights and images from National Team games and the Champions League tournament.The Italian Football mobile applications will include video highlights and interviews; wallpapers; sound clips; alerts; games; and premium applications including Lega Calcio TO GO.
Digital Orchid has an extensive distribution network in the Americas and worldwide, representing over 65 major sports, entertainment, gaming, and media brands around the world, including the Football brands of the Spanish Football League, Argentina Football Association, Columbia Football Teams, Cruz Azul, Argentinos Juniors, and many others.
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Bouygues and Microsoft in next-gen collaboration
Bouygues Telecom and Microsoft Corp are to collaborate to incorporate Microsoft Windows Media technologies progressively in Bouygues Telecom's next-generation mobile music offering set to launch in the first half of 2007. In addition to the service, various Bouygues Telecom handsets will be tailored for the service and include support for core Windows Media technologies including Windows Media Audio, Windows Media Digital Rights Management and Microsoft's Media Transfer Protocol as handset platforms' capabilities evolve.
Bouygues Telecom will also evaluate the use of other Windows Media platform components including Windows Media Video, Microsoft's implementation of the SMPTE VC-1 standard, for use in future mobile media initiatives.
"By using Microsoft's proven Windows Media technologies, we meet customers' needs and requests for better integration of their mobile handsets into the home digital ecosystem," said Benoit Louvet, multimedia mobile director at Bouygues Telecom. "With this improvement, mobile handsets will communicate more easily and smoothly with other multimedia devices."
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Hong Kong given Yellow Card
The unlicensed screening of the top-line World Cup 2006 matches in bars and clubs has been alarmingly widespread in Hong Kong, according to the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA). While the World Cup has boosted Hong Kong bar revenues by up to 50 per cent, independent estimates suggest that at least one-third of the cash has been generated by screening pirated TV programming from markets such as the Philippines and South Africa.“We are very concerned with the ongoing tolerance of widespread piracy in one of the world’s most advanced economies – Hong Kong,” said Marcel Fenez, Chairman of The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA). “Despite efforts by Hong Kong to champion its world class status, when it comes to the basics of sports and entertainment intellectual property rights protection, the SAR still lags behind other media hubs such as Singapore, Sydney, Seoul and Tokyo.”
“Collaboration on all fronts between the government, industry, bar and club owners and the general public is central to rectifying the situation and protecting Hong Kong’s reputation,” said Fenez. “CASBAA has been monitoring the market on behalf of its members and legal actions are planned against establishments screening unlicensed sports programming.”CASBAA is to issue a public notice to reinforce the message that screening pay-TV services without legal subscriptions is against the law and that legal actions will be taken against bars and clubs that refuse to cease these activities.
Under Hong Kong law, bars and clubs may only display pay-TV channels under an appropriate subscription from Hong Kong licensed pay-TV operators such as Hong Kong Cable, now Television and TVB Pay Vision. Overseas pay-TV operators such as Dream of the Philippines, MultiChoice of South Africa and UBC True of Thailand are authorised to offer pay-TV subscriptions in their respective jurisdictions and they cannot and indeed do not offer subscriptions in Hong Kong. The display of overseas pay-TV channels in Hong Kong by bars and club owners, using special decoders is illegal.
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Glowria launches Video on Demand servicePersonalised on-demand entertainment provider glowria has launched its own-brand Video on Demand (VoD) service to French consumers. The launch directly follows a June 2006 deal with Neuf Cegetel to offer Neuf’s subscribers a white-label VoD service, through the set-top box, straight to their televisions.
Glowria's VoD strategy is two-pronged, comprising a direct to consumer service, through its own site www.glowria.fr, as well as a turnkey, white-label, or co-branded solution, offered to cable operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and Telecommunications Providers.
According to Mihai Crasneanu, glowria’s founder and CEO, launching its own VoD service is a natural evolution for the company: “Our objective, since starting glowria in 2003, has been to provide on-demand entertainment in any format, on any device," he said.” Today the technology is in place to allow us to do just that. This new mode of distribution liberates the viewer from the constraints of television channels. It allows them to choose a programme to watch, when and wherever they want."
Following the launch of its VoD service in France this summer, glowria will extend its own-brand service to Germany, where it recently acquired two key players in the online DVD rental market. Glowria will also offer its turnkey solution to cable operators, ISPs, telecommunications providers and any other company seeking to offer VoD to its customers.
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IPTV set-top box (STB) manufacturer Amino has been selected by Lijbrandt Telecom BV to supply its STBs for the first ever High Definition (HD) IPTV service in Northern Europe. The service was rolled-out in time for World Cup football matches offering viewers greater clarity and detail. As well as HDTV, the service will also offer the triple-play of Internet access, TV and telephone services. Lijbrandt expects to grow to 120,000 subscribers within three years.
"With World Cup matches attracting the interest they do, it was a great time to be able to roll out our service", said Niels Jonkman for Lijbrandt Telecom
Lijbrandt’s service differs from that of its competitors by utilising the Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) format as opposed to the more commonplace Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) standard.
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Flextech makes tapeless switch
Flextech Television has completed the switch of its linear channels to tapeless playout from Red Bee Media's Broadcast Centre in West London - two weeks before the planned date of 18 July 2006. The move follows the successful switch of Ftn, Bravo, Challenge, LivingTV2, Trouble and their associated timeshift channels over the previous three weeks.
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Thursday July 6th 2006
Record labels will sue Yahoo!
100% wifi for Paris in 2007
‘Open Skies’ over Asia demand
ESPN Classic on Imagenio
VCom Acquires WaveRider CanadaRecord labels will sue Yahoo!
The world's biggest music companies are preparing to sue Yahoo China for copyright infringement as part of the industry's efforts to crack down on piracy. "Yahoo China has been blatantly infringing our members' rights. We have started the process and as far as we're concerned we're on the track to litigation," said John Kennedy, chairman and chief of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
Yahoo China is a partnership between Yahoo, which owns 40 percent of the business, and China's Alibaba.com. The IFPI says Yahoo China's search engine provides links to Web sites that offer unlicensed music downloads. Kennedy said China was the most exciting new market in the world for the music industry but that online piracy "threatens to strangle the fledgling legitimate digital music market before it has hardly evolved." The IFPI estimates that about 85 percent of all music consumed in China is pirated.
Kennedy singled out Yahoo China and Chinese Internet search leader Baidu.com which was ordered by a Beijing judge last year to stop directing users to music download sites.
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Paris wants complete wireless Internet cover by the end of 2007 to make it the most connected capital city in the world, declares Mayor Bertrand Delanoe. Under a new plan, the city hopes to set up 400 free WiFi access points next year and allow Internet service providers to install antennae on strategically-located public property.
"We will act fast and firmly... to create the most favourable conditions for Paris," Delanoe told reporters at city hall. "It is a decisive tool for international competition.” The plan also calls for slashing taxes on companies that lay down fibre optic cables in a drive to have 80 percent of all buildings within the city connected for 'ultra-high speed' by 2010.
License fees for existing fibre would be cut by 25 percent, and the tax break would go up to 90 percent for the first 400 meters of new cables that branch out to connect buildings currently lacking the high-speed lines. The free wireless access points -- to be located in parks, squares, libraries, and public areas -- will be set up by private firms that win contracts to be awarded in early 2007. The project will also experiment with free WiFi access for an entire city quarter by the end of 2007.
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The 2006 CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum featured calls for governments to lower regulatory barriers to the provision of cross-border satellite services or face the prospect of international satellite providers re-directing new capacity away from Asia. Patience has reached breaking point over regulatory stalemates in key markets such as China and India, delegates heard in Singapore. “If global operators feel forced to re-target their payloads because of a lack of potential market access, it will be the end-users in the domestic markets who feel the burden through higher charges,” the more than 200 delegates were told.
“There are tremendous opportunities in Asia today and for the coming years,” said William Wade, Chairman of the CASBAA Satellite Industry Committee and Deputy CEO of AsiaSat.
But for this potential to be realised there is a need for more competition, more open market access and a change of mindset by governments, delegates heard.
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ESPN Classic is to go on the Spanish IPTV platform Imagenio. Imagenio now offers 66 different TV channels, 15 radio stations, a pay per view football channel as well as a host of interactive information and commercial services. The company has recently ramped up its channel offerings, and subscriber levels, which currently exceed 250,000, are set to increase significantly over the next couple of years.
Roch Pellerin, Managing Director, ESPN Classic, said: ‘It’s great to have cracked the Spanish market and great to be working with Imagenio. Based on the channel’s success in over 40 European territories, we expect ESPN Classic to be a big hit in Spain.’
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VCom Acquires WaveRider Canada
VCom a leader in broadband last mile access technology announced that it has completed an agreement with Wave Wireless Corporation to acquire a cluster of companies which will provide new broadband wireless technologies, synergistic sales channels, and substantial revenues in product sales.
Under the terms of the agreement, VCom has purchased WaveRider Communications (Canada) Inc., WaveRider Communications (USA) Inc., Jetstream Internet Services Inc., and Avendo Wireless Inc. from their parent WaveRider Communications Inc, a subsidiary of Wave Wireless Corporation. The shares of all the companies will be purchased for approximately US$1 million cash. VCom expects the collective revenue of the acquired companies to contribute in the order of $5 million to its 2007 sales.
As part of the acquisition, VCom has entered into a supply agreement with Wave Wireless pursuant to which VCom will produce under license the 900 MHz product portfolio marketed by Wave Wireless. The companies also intend to sell each others wireless product portfolios.
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Wednesday 5th July 2006
NTL promises to take fight to Sky
User TV sites will pay contributors
BPI can sue AllofMP3
Disney claims top kids slot
UPC Ireland job cutsNTL promises to take fight to Sky
The new management of NTL is hoping to challenge BSkyB with an aggressive expansion of its on-demand film offerings. “Content is going to be the battleground,” CEO Stephen Burch told the FT. He admitted that Sky had better films and sports rights, but said he was looking for ways to exploit cable’s on-demand capabilities.
“I don’t think the movie offering on Sky is as robust as it could be,” he said adding that NTL’s merger with Telewest strengthened his hand in negotiations with film studios interested in the distribution opportunities offered by broadband, video-on-demand and pay-per-view technologies. “VOD will be a strong retention tool and, when people understand it better, a good acquisition tool,” he said. He also plans to expand Flextech, the television content business which has a joint venture with the BBC called UKTV. “We are finding new programmes we can create and buy and ventures we can do to expand our content.“
Meanwhile NTL has completed its £961m (E1.39bn) acquisition of Virgin Mobile, making it the first company in the UK able to offer the “quadruple play”. Burch said NTL would adopt the Virgin brand name for its services “no later than early next year”.
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User TV sites will pay contributors
A new video-sharing site is offering “videographers” a share of the advertising dollars that their material generates. “The authors of Internet content should be paid for their work and not have it exploited for others' gain," said a posting at Eefoof.com, a site that is still in test mode. "We will send you a percentage of our site revenue via an electronic transfer each month, depending on how well your content has performed."
The best known of the user generated sites is YouTube but, though more than a year old its revenue model remains unclear, although it did recently close a ‘showcase’ sponsorship deal with NBC. Eefoof's offer says: Once a month the company tallies the number of page views for each submission. The company then looks at overall traffic and calculates what percentage of the page views was generated by each submission. Ad revenue is divided accordingly.
Another site offering payment is Lulu.tv. It says it will begin charging a $14.95 monthly fee for a "pro" account and putting 80 percent of that money into a special fund. Each month the money will be distributed among the video creators, with the biggest share going to the person who attracted the most viewers. Free accounts with fewer features will be available, but those users will not share in the revenues. To get the process moving, the company is priming the pot with $5,000.
Bob Young, the chief executive of Lulu Enterprises who also started the open source software company Red Hat, said Lulu.tv was an experiment inspired by the traditional television broadcasting world, where the networks buy shows from producers, and shows succeed or fail based on the ratings.
Lulu Enterprises already runs a print-on-demand bookstore that pays 80 percent royalties to authors after they pay a binding fee and small per-page charge. Authors are responsible for their own editing and publicity.
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BPI can sue AllofMP3
The British music industry's trade group has been cleared to sue the Russian music download site AllofMP3.com in London. AllofMP3.com, which offers album downloads for as little as $1.85, is Britain's second-most popular online music service behind Apple iTunes. The Russian site claims to be in compliance with local copyright laws, but music labels say they have not given permission for AllofMP3 to sell their songs.
The High Court has given its approval to serve legal proceedings against AllofMP3 and its owner Media Services in Russia ahead of a UK court case, the BPI said. "The reason AllofMP3.com downloads are cheap is that neither the artists nor the record companies are being paid," said BPI General Counsel Roz Groome.
Earlier this year, U.S. lawmakers warned against signing a bilateral trade deal with Russia until Moscow moved to reduce intellectual property theft, including the shutdown of AllofMP3. Russian prosecutors are conducting their own investigation of the site.
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The Disney Channel is claiming to have become the UK's most popular commercial kids offering after its move away from premium subscription to become available on the basic pay-TV packages. The channel has seen its audience hit a record level, with share up by 48% since it moved from Sky and NTL's premium package six weeks ago.
The ad-free Disney Channel sits alongside the BBC's offerings CBBC and CBeebies as an ad-free kids channel. The other commercial children's channels, such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, all carry adverts.
Ratings data for the first six weeks since Disney Channel switched to basic pay-TV shows the channel's share of children aged four to 15 has increased from 1.5% to 2.5% between 6am and midnight, making it the number one commercial kids channel during that period.
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UPC Ireland job cuts
UPC Ireland, the new parent company of cable operator NTL Ireland and Chorus, says it will be seeking around 350 job redundancies from September. The company said that certain activities, currently undertaken by NTL Ireland, will be transferred to Chorus and vice versa. The main areas affected are customer care, finance, networks and Chorus Sports Channel.The company added that it may be able to create up to 140 new positions in the future.
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Tuesday 3rd July 2006
Now centrestage in PCCW bids
“Speed more important than price” says report
RTVE launches interactive on DTT
French dilute “anti-iTunes” law
Eisner “YouTube not a threat to TV”
MySpace mobile
Intelsat complete Panamsat buy
Now centrestage in PCCW bids
Now, the broadband TV service is emerging as a focal point in a takeover battle between Macquarie Bank and US private equity firm TPG Newbridge for the core businesses of PCCW. Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation, which is in talks with Macquarie to join its $7.3bn bid, said this week "it would be a very interesting experience" operating Now, the world's largest IPTV operation. TPG Newbridge has also said it was interested in the Hong Kong group partly because of its strong presence in broadband TV.
Now, short for "Network of the World", was launched in 2003 as part of PCCW's efforts to halt erosion in its core fixed-line business. In this, it has had some success. PCCW's traditional phone business turned around in the second half of last year, maintaining an overall market share of 68 per cent. Now has also boosted PCCW's broadband users - these rose 20 per cent last year to 953,000, and has helped the company maintain premium pricing at about US$25.7 per month, hgher than the market's average.
By giving away set-top boxes and offering free channels to subscribers of its already well-developed broadband network, PCCW managed to sign up 269,000 users in Now's first year of service. It then added a few popular channels, such as ESPN and Star Sports, to lure more subscribers.
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“Speed more important than price” say s reportAn independent research report reveals changing dynamics in the home broadband market and varying degrees of consumer awareness, take-up and demand amongst different countries. 2,500 respondents were surveyed across, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
In Italy, Spain and France, operators have spurred adoption by bundling broadband with other services such as voice and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), while the UK lags behind the rest of the continent in awareness, uptake and desire for a number of broadband applications. Driven by falling prices and new services, the European broadband market continues to grow at great pace. In total Europe added 20 million new broadband households last year, twice as many as were added in America in 2005. By the end of the decade the report projects that there will be 134 million broadband subscriptions in Europe, representing more than 61 per cent of all households in the region. This will create a fertile ground for selling value added services to connected consumers, said Martin Olausson, Senior Analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics.
The research indicates where in the past price has been the key factor, the survey identifies that speed is now the top concern with approximately 58 per cent citing this as their reason for subscribing to their selected broadband service. They identify quality as the second most important factor (17 per cent), followed by the freedom broadband brings to effortlessly access content such as movies and games (14 per cent). Price was only a top concern for approximately 9 per cent of respondents. The survey was commissioned by Motorola.
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RTVE launches interactive on DTT
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The state-owned group RTVE has launched its first interactive TV applications on DTT, along with its technological partners, Fresh It, Abertis and Soluziona. Among these services are an EPG, advanced digital teletext, radio services, information services about the traffic, weather and the Stock Market and Emplea-T, with several job advertisements.
RTVE has announced that it will launch a massive campaign from September to advertise these services and boost consumers to acquire MHP-based set-top-boxes to have access to them.
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French dilute “anti-iTunes” law
The French parliament has adopted a watered-down version of a law once seen as posing a major threat to the compatibility restrictions and future of online media stores in France such as Apple's iTunes. The law, intended to counter dominance in online media stores sparked suggestions Apple might pull its iTunes operation out of France.
In its initial form, the bill would have forced online stores like iTunes to drop barriers that prevent songs it sells being played on portable MP3 devices and computers designed to work with another music store. But after amendments introduced in the Senate, the law allows companies to argue that measures to restrict the technical compatibility of songs or films sold online were undertaken at the request of the authors.
The law was condemned by the opposition Socialists and several deputies in the ruling UMP party.The Socialists said they would seek a ruling by the Constitutional Court.
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Eisner “YouTube not a threat to TV”
Speaking at the FORTUNE Brainstorm conference Michael Eisner, the former CEO of Walt Disney said that sites such as YouTube are great, but that ultimately viewers still want to see content created by professionals.
"At some point in time, people have to say that of 100 million bad jokes out there, there are really only 18 good ones," he said, adding that the best thing about YouTube and other video sites is that it will offer the opportunity for more people with true creative talent to get noticed.
Robert Kotick, the chief executive of video game software publisher Activision agreed, saying that there will always be demand for games, movies, television shows and other forms of media created by people who do this for a living.
The key for the big media organizations, executives said, is taking advantage of the Internet to distribute their programming. To that end, David Poltrack, the chief research officer for CBS said that his company is now focusing on a "platform agnostic position to technology."
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The founder of the networking site MySpace has unveiled plans for global expansion and a new mobile phone service that will allow its 87 million users to connect to the service wherever they are.
MySpace chief executive Chris DeWolfe said it would expand into 10 new countries over the next year in addition to current offices in the UK and Australia. The site was acquired by News Corp last year as part of a £332m (E481m) deal. DeWolfe said the new mobile service, which has already launched in the US, would come to Europe soon. He said: "We think there's a great opportunity to create a MySpace Lite for any mobile device."
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Intelsat complete Panamsat buy
Intelsat announced the completion of its merger with PanAmSat Holding
Corporation. Intelsat acquired all of the outstanding common shares of PanAmSat for approximately $3.2 billion. PanAmSat is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intelsat, and the common stock of PanAmSat has been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. The total value of the transaction, including PanAmSat debt that was refinanced or remained outstanding, is approximately $6.4 billion.
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EU won’t regulate blogs
ITU agreement means digital for 98% UK
EC favours ‘structural split’ for incumbents
Brazil will use ISDB for DTV
Consumers at sea on IPTV
More studios for P2P
CBS works our digital deal for affiliates
German Cartel Office Approves ND Satcom Buy
Paige for News board
BT Vision Gains Momentum
Loral Names managers for Space Systems
NDS joins Nasdaq Global Select
New European Union rules on audiovisual content will exclude non-television like programmes such as video blogs. "The proposal aims to cover audiovisual media services, and I stress media," Commissioner Viviane Reding told a hearing in the European Parliament.
The Commissioner wants to update EU media rules to reflect changes in how people view programmes. "It will cover services under the editorial responsibility of media services providers, the principal purpose of which is the provision of programmes with moving images, with or without sound, to inform, entertain or educate," Reding said. The services that fall under the scope of the rules can be described as television or television-like services, she added. The existing rules only apply to traditional broadcasts and the revamp would include moving images on any platform, including the Internet and mobile phones for the first time.
UK Broadcasting minister Shaun Woodward criticised the EC’s plans. He said bringing non-linear content under the remit of the directive was “neither desirable nor practical”.
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ITU agreement means digital for 98% UK
An agreement, signed at the ITU by the broadcasting authorities in a number of European countries, including UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland, should ensure the provision of digital terrestrial broadcasting free from international interference. Ofcom said it achieved all of its aims and would mean a "smooth transition" towards giving digital TV to almost the entire UK population.
Under the agreement, the UK will be permitted to use all necessary transmitter sites to deliver public service television channels to 98.5% of the population - the same proportion as currently receive analogue television broadcasts. Commercial digital television channels will be provided to up to 90% of the population and the parties also agreed to UK plans for the further expansion of digital radio services.
Ofcom said: "This accelerates the move to all-digital broadcasting. After months of detailed negotiations involving more than 100 countries, this successful outcome is testament to the hard work and dedication of the UK delegation."
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EC favours ‘structural split’ for incumbents
The European Commission has come out against breaking up former monopolies under its latest proposals, saying it preferred a “structural split” between companies’ networks and services divisions to help promote competition in the sector. Viviane Reding, the EU telecoms commissioner, has suggested that companies should opt for a structural separation of the two activities such as that adopted by BT Group in the UK which has different business centres for networks and services. Asked whether she would adopt the strategy similar to that which led to the split up of AT&T in the US in 1984, she said: “It’s not the way we do it in Europe”.
Deutsche Telekom was quick to deny the need for any separation between its core operations saying that it did not recognise the competition problems that Reding claimed would be resolved by a division. Reding also proposed setting up a Europe-wide super-regulator for the industry and phasing out “ex ante” regulation in at least six of the existing 18 telecoms market segments, including those for national and international calls, but called for more effective regulation in the remaining markets.
Reding also argued for setting up a European spectrum agency to oversee the management of the radio spectrum and signalled that the incumbent operators could not expect “regulatory holidays”.
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Brazil will use ISDB for DTV
Brazil will use Japanese technology as the basis for its digital television standard. Brazil's government chose Japan's ISDB standard over rival U.S. and European technologies, ending more than a decade of public debate. It said the system was more stable, offered more service to customers and could be modernized and adapted more easily.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called it a memorable day in Brazil's relations with Japan, and said: "We are not only going to absorb Japanese technology but will creatively contribute to perfect the system".
Brazilians this year are expected to buy nearly 11 million TV sets, up from 10 million last year, according to electronics manufacturing association Eletros. Brazil is also among the world's largest cellular phone markets, with more than 92 million users.
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Consumers at sea on IPTV
UK consumers still don’t fully understand broadband technology, despite an average of 80,000 new UK households signing up to high speed Internet connections every week, according to new research from uSwitch.com. The survey reveals that 39% broadband users were confused by the term IPTV, 34% were bemused by VoIP.
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More studios for P2P
Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. will make movies and TV shows available for download through a peer-to-peer content delivery network run by Wurld Media Inc. Television shows will be available on a rental basis through Wurld's Peer Impact service for fees starting at 99 cents per episode, which entitles a consumer to a full 24-hour viewing period.
Peer Impact, which already offers movie and TV content from NBC Universal along with an assortment of music from both major and independent labels, will rent library movie titles for $2.99 and new releases for $3.99. While the content must be viewed within 24 hours of starting to watch a TV show or movie, a downloaded programme can be stored for up to 30 days before viewing, says Taunia Kipp, VP of business strategy for Wurld Media.
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CBS works our digital deal for affiliates
CBS and its affiliates have agreed a new revenue-share that clears the way for the network to distribute its content on digital platforms and deals affiliates in on potential profit. The pact gives CBS more flexibility to funnel shows to the Internet VOD and other emerging platforms. In return, stations will receive a cut of proceeds, including incentives for driving traffic to CBS' Website and other network platforms where they sample ad-supported CBS fare.
Fox recently reached an agreement with its affiliates to distribute more content on emerging platforms in return for stations receiving about 12% of related revenue. NBC and ABC do not have such deals with their affiliates but have said they are working on ways to partner with stations. NBC is creating a new Web portal, the National Broadband Company, with its stations and ABC included in a handful of stations in its free streaming trial that ends June 30.
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German Cartel Office Approves ND Satcom Buy
SES ASTRA announced that the German Federal Cartel Office has approved the full acquisition of the satellite communications supplier ND SatCom by SES ASTRA. SES ASTRA announced in May it was to increase its shareholding in ND SatCom from 25.1 to 100 per cent by acquiring the 74.9 per cent share from the German-based high-tech group AUGUSTA Technologie AG. The acquisition allows SES ASTRA to enter the fast growing government sector and take advantage of the growth potential for its core satellite infrastructure business.
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Paige for News BoardNews Corporation has appointed a former US secretary of education to its board of directors. Rod Paige, who served as education secretary during George Bush's first term as president, becomes the 15th member of the board. Last week the former Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, became a director.
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BT Vision Gains Momentum
BT announced a new video-on-demand film agreement with independent film distributor, Momentum Pictures, for its next-generation TV service, BT Vision, which it will launch in Autumn 2006. This agreement will provide access to some of the most successful and best-loved films from Momentum Pictures’ catalogue including titles such as: Lost in Translation, Racing Stripes, Where the Truth Lies, O, Brother Where Art Thou?, Vera Drake, Lord of War and Broken Flowers, amongst others.
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Loral Names managers for Space SystemsLoral Space and Communications has promoted Patrick DeWitt CEO of its satellite manufacturing subsidiary, Space Systems/Loral. John Celli was promoted to president and chief operating officer of the unit. DeWitt most recently served as president of SS/L during a time in which the Loral unit racked up significant customer gains. John Celli was previously executive vice president with the company.
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NDS joins Nasdaq Global SelectNDS announced today that it is now included in the new NASDAQ Global Select Market. The NASDAQ Global Select Market has the highest initial listing standards of any exchange in the world based on financial and liquidity requirements. Prior to the change, the company had been listed on the NASDAQ National Market.
Now, NASDAQ-listed companies will be classified under three listing tiers — NASDAQ Global Select Market, NASDAQ Global Market, and NASDAQ Capital Market. NASDAQ also plans to launch indexes based on these new tiers.
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